What have I been up to? Well, I finished my summer calculus class and booked it to Chicago the night after my final!

I got to see my besties Mel and Allie and go to my first Lollapalooza weekend, which was da bomb!

We saw some of my favorite bands – Mumford and Sons, MGMT, Arcade Fire, Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Matt and Kim, New Pornographers, Blitzen Trapper…Just to name a few. It was a crazy experience with over 80,000 people at Grant Park for 3 days straight. I had a blast, and can’t wait until next year!

I then met up with some friends Laura and Charlotte who live in the suburbs of Chicago to shop and eat yummy food. We all met at our first year at Denison, and then we all went our separate ways the next year so it is always fun to see them and catch up. We are also all foodies so I always look forward to visiting them because I leave well fed 🙂

Laura took me to the modern art museum that I fell in love with!

Since Chicago I have been home in KC, road tripped to Arkansas for my grandma’s birthday and moved some more things to my apartment in STL. I have a week until classes start, yikes bikes!

while i have learned a lot about barefoot running and the importance of letting you feet feel natural on the ground, i am not comepltely convinced.

1. they creep me out. i was in the mall and some guy who was wearing a pair came up to my friend and i and yelled “i saw you checking my feet out are you jealous?” me – no. i just think you look ridiculous.

2. do i want to be barefoot? the lack of arch support scares me and i don’t even like to be barefoot at home, let alone walking around the city.

3. i am nervous my toes won’t fit in them. ok, i said it. i am self conscious about my long toes.

4. when it gets cold, will people be wearing them with toe socks? if so, i’m not ok with that.

I learned a lesson yesterday. Writing my first check 4 years after opening my bank account isn’t the smartest thing to do. While technically it should have been fine, it wasn’t and I kinda freaked out. I first did what any college girl would do and called my dad with the “uhh so what do i do now?” question. In small situations like these I tend to get a little dramatic. Ok, really dramatic. I usually shed a few tears, and curse a few times in my car with the music really loud (i rarely swear so when i do i don’t want anyone to hear me) After 5 minutes with the friendly bank people, I walked out smiling and calm. So what lesson did I learn? Well, I ordered new checks and now know starter checks are not looked to fondly at by businesses, but I also learned a lot about where I am in my life. I need to realize I really don’t know a lot about how to live on my own no matter how much I think I do. I realized I am going to make a lot of mistakes here on out and I have to take them with a grain of salt. Yeah, going to the bank sucks. Financing your life sucks. But I am lucky to consider these small problems as my biggest worries. So in short:

Pour berries into any size baking pan you wish, put the topping on and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

And voila!

In other news, yesterday I got a quick run in before an interview with Girls on the Run of Saint Louis. This is a non-profit organization that empowers young women through training groups in middle school around the city. Their goal is to keep young girls healthy, provide confidence and a safe activity that will hopefully be a positive influence for the rest of their lives. They organize races throughout the year for the girls to run in and to raise money to better support and expand their locations.

I was really inspired by the mission of this organization and wanted to be involved right away. I interviewed to be considered for an internship this Fall, and to also become an assistant coach to a group of girls at a school nearby. The interview went really well and I was offered the position!! I am so excited, and can’t wait to learn more and more about all aspects of Girls on the Run!

To celebrate, Jenny and I went to paint me pottery and painted some huge coffee mugs, got dinner and rented way too many movies! I am looking forward to catching up with my favorite tv show Weeds (I kinda want to be Nancy in a odd way) There might have been some pie and ice cream involved as well…